News Feature | March 24, 2014

Motorola Solutions CPE 2014: Channel Program Updates

Motorola Solutions is hosting its Motorola Channel Partner Expo 2014, March 23-25, in Las Vegas. Last night, I had the opportunity to speak with Bill Cates, senior director of global channels strategies programs and operations for Motorola Solutions, to find out more about the changes to the company’s PartnerEmpower channel program. He explained Moto rolled out significant enhancements to its partner program which was launched a few years ago. Essentially, Moto simplified the program in three ways:

Consolidated technology segments and improved access for partners

13 technology segments were reorganized into 9 segments — for example, all wireless is now combined.

Streamlined certification and testing

Testing now takes half of the time to complete and certification doesn’t require training. Partners with more channel experience should find that the process goes even faster for them. One of the reasons Motorola made these changes was to combat competitors trying to court partners away by making their certification process seem easier.

Changed the program structure

It’s simplified so it can be explained on one page.

In addition, Cates says partners have the ability to differentiate their businesses by achieving program status in market specialties, such as hospitality, healthcare or manufacturing. VARs always assume that, to earn leads from a manufacturer, you need to sell a lot of product. Cates explained that volume is just one factor, outweighed by market specialty.

Motorola Solutions also launched an online scorecard so VARs can see up-to-date details of their achievements in revenue, certification, and training.